I Don't Get It - Translation Work Avoidance

People at work tell me all the time "I don't get it". I will explain a simple concept and the next thing I hear, "I don't get it". I am starting to figure out that this can be interpreted as laziness. They don't get it because they fear they will be given extra responsibilities.

The reason, I know this is that they immediately want to do their normal mundane work and are not eager to learn something new. The sad thing is that half the time I hear this I am trying to help someone perform their job, not to assign new responsibilities. As a matter of fact, I don't even have that capability.

The Situation

I tried to explain to a coworker the logic behind the chart of accounts. Basically, most companies have the same logic and number system for coding asset, liabilites, equity and income statement accounts. I had spoken to A/P several times about this topic. Particularly the bookeepers. Manufacturing and Distribution (Mfg.) Expense accounts all begin with 60XXX while Sales and Administrative (S&A) Expense accounts all begin with 70XXX. So, logically any department related to the production of goods should be coded to 60 and the departments related to sales and upper management should be coded to 70. With the exception of Plant Management, Cost Accounting and Plant Engineering. The reason is that the information generated by these departments is directly related to the manufacturing process. Which should be matched to the period in which revenue occurs as Cost of Goods Sold.

Well, this simple explanation was to hard they still couldn't figure how to code expenses according to each department function. (Note: The last three numbers are the same for a particular expense type for instance 400 - Advertising). Then I said well this is as simple as it gets. If the department is above xxxx it is a S&A expense and gets a 70 if it is below xxxx it is a 57. They still acted like they were confused. You tell me what is not to get? They didn't want the help because they think with the efficeincy comes an increased responsibilities.

If your employees' don't get simple concepts fire them. Not because they're stupid but because they are lazy. Lazy people don't care about the business, they occupy their time with escaping work. Before you know it the infection begins. I call it the zombie effect. Idiot bites good employee, good employee turns to idiot and they bite two more people until you need to hire a janitor to mop up the drool from all the idiots that work for you.

The sad part is that it is your fault. You let the Zombie effect set.